IT to act as force multiplier for auto component cos: Kiran Karnik

New Delhi, Dec 19 (UNI) Information Technology has the potential to act as a force multiplier for the Indian auto component industry but to realise these benefits, the focus has to shift from spending to smart spending by ensuring that the firms' business processes are IT-enabled.

The auto component industry, which has the potential to transform manufacturing, can also provide employment to trained manpower.

Further, the globalisation of the auto industry has enabled the industry to import world class methods of Supply Chain Management (SCM).

The report released by Nasscom aims to understand IT adoption challenges faced by manufacturing industry firms, especially in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) segment and bring in an understanding of IT adoption thresholds, challenges and processes in different segments of the Indian auto component sector.

''Nasscom is deeply committed to the development of a vibrant domestic IT market and our Cluster Development Program is a strategic part of Nasscom's 'Domestic IT Market initiative'. Increased IT adoption in the SME segment not only enables increased competitiveness for the user industry, but it also creates new markets for the Indian IT industry,'' said Nasscom President Kiran Karnik.

Owing to strong performance of the Indian auto component sector in the past few years, it has been considered as the 'sunrise sector' of the Indian economy.

The global auto component industry is expected to touch 1.9 trillion dollar by 2015, of which around 40 per cent is potentially expected to be sourced from low cost countries like India. While, India's share of the global auto components trade of 185 billion dollars is only 0.4 per cent currently, India is estimated to have the potential to become one of the top five auto component economies by 2025.

UNI